FACT-CHECK: Was US Vice President Vance Honest About Ukraine During His Hungary Visit?

No, he wasn’t. Mostly Vance offered up fibs and spins, and some stuff he just made up. Make us preferred on Google Share Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn Bluesky Email Copy Copied US Vice President JD Vance (L) and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban appear on stage together during a “Day of Friendship” event at MTK Sportpark in Budapest, Hungary on April 7, 2026. (Photo by Attila KISBENEDEK / AFP) Content Share Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn Bluesky Email Copy Copied Flip Make us preferred on Google US Vice President JD Vance in an Apr. 8 public discussion at the Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC) spoke on several subjects, among them the Russo-Ukrainian War, White House efforts to bring peace, and his view of Budapest’s role in that process. Almost all of what he said was misleading and factually inaccurate. Specifically, Vance comments regarding Ukraine, Russia and Hungary in the context of the Russo-Ukrainian War were: Follow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official . ”Uh we have made significant progress. I mean, if you go back to where we were in the beginning where we couldn’t even get the Russians or the Ukrainians to put on what is it that you want in order to settle the conflict? We’ve now gotten that. And we’ve got pieces of paper from the Ukrainians and pieces of paper from the Russians. We’ve actually got them to state their positions. And over time, their positions have gotten closer and closer together.” “You know, even some of the the Western European capitals have been helpful at least behind the scenes, but the most helpful has been Victor because Victor is the one who’s encouraged us to truly understand this, to understand from the perspective of both the Ukrainians and the Russians what is necessary for them to end the conflict.” “What I would say to both the Russians and the Ukrainians: you know, at this point, we’re talking about bargaining over a few square kilometers of territory one way or the other. Is that worth the loss of hundreds of thousands of additional Russian and Ukrainian young men? Is it worth additional months or even years of high energy prices and economic devastation? We believe the answer is clearly ‘no’.” Other Topics of Interest Ukraine Hits Russia’s Caspian Oil Platforms – Nearly 1,000 km From Home Ukrainian forces have struck two Russian offshore drilling platforms in the Caspian Sea used to support military fuel supplies overnight on Friday. Vance’s full, verbatim comments are available here : Broken down, this is how Vance departed from reality for his Budapest audience: Vance: “Uh we have made significant progress…over time, their positions have gotten closer and closer together.” In fact, progress has been close to nil and movement between the sides has been negligible, and by Russia not at all. Since Russia invaded Ukraine the second time in February 2022, there have been two concessions formally made, those by Ukraine: Agreement to a short-term ceasefire and to negotiation directly with Russia, prior to Russian evacuation of all Ukrainian territory. These two concessions went into effect in Mar. 2025. Core Russian demands to Ukraine are unchanged since the start of the full-scale war. Russia’s terms to Ukraine as stated by Kremlin officials including President Putin include: Generally speaking, the Ukrainian terms to Russia are red lines to every Russian term to Ukraine. In addition, Ukraine is demanding Russia pay reparations for Ukrainians killed and wounded and Ukrainian property destroyed or damaged. Aside from agreeing to participate in talks with Russian troops occupying Ukrainian territory, this Ukrainian position has been unchanged since 2022. Vance: “We’re talking about bargaining over a few square kilometers of territory one way or the other.” In fact, the land space involved is very substantial and by most definitions massive. The territorial dispute between Ukraine and Russia – or more accurately the sovereign Ukrainian territory the Kremlin wants to make sovereign Russian territory – covers a land space of about 135,845 square kilometers, or about 52,450 square miles, i.e., Ukraine’s Luhansk, Kherson, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Crimea regions. This is a land space slightly larger than all of England (130,310 square kilometers; 50,310 square miles) or Greece including all its islands (131,957 square kilometers; 50,949 square miles). The total territory of Vance’s home state Ohio is 116,096 square kilometers (40,987 square miles) is about 15 percent smaller, than the land the Kremlin is saying Ukraine should turn over to Russia. Vance : “ Is that worth the loss of hundreds of thousands of additional Russian and Ukrainian young men?” In fact, with the qualification that it is impossible to assign a real monetary value on a human life, Vance’s messaging that little of value is at stake in the Russo-Ukrainian War is obviously and by many measures spectacularly wrong. The territories Russia wants to take from Ukraine in terms of ore and growing potential are some of the richest on Earth. The Donbas (roughly, Luhansk and Donetsk regions) is overflowing with rich mineral deposits. All the Ukrainian territories coveted by Russia, save Crimea, are covered by black loam making what Russia wants one of the most agriculturally-productive swaths of land on the planet. A rough estimate of all the exploitable minerals and ore in the territories Russia wants would require proper surveying for an accurate figure, however, past estimates usually have placed the potential gain to Russia mining and ore-processing industry at above $15 trillion. The most prominent exploitable resources of the region, concentrated particularly in Donetsk and Luhansk regions and for the most part actively extracted until Russia invaded, include coal, lithium, iron ore, natural gas, titanium and zirconium. Fully 25 percent of the world’s manganese reserves are in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. The best-known rare earth minerals thought to be present in economically-extractable deposits in these territories are Monazite, Xenotime and Bastnäsite. Vance: “….…………..” In fact, Vance (and other US officials) have been absolutely silent on Ukrainians displaced by the war. The US Vice President in Budapest was talking like millions of Ukrainians uprooted from their homes and whose property and businesses were destroyed by Russia, don’t exist. The best-known Vance comment on Ukraine dates back to Feb. 19 2022, five days before Russia invaded Ukraine a second time and started a war that has now killed more than a million people, in which Vance told US Republican pundit Steve Bannon: “I gotta be honest with you, I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine one way or another.” Vance’s disinterest is not a minor detail. The territory Ukraine and Russia are fighting over is one of the most densely populated in Europe. As a result of that combat, about 10-11 million Ukrainians have been forced to leave their homes, with about 5.3 million being displaced internally and 5.7 displaced externally. For Europe, this was the largest forced shift of populations since World War II. According to Ukrainian estimates, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has caused about $195 billion of direct physical damage and $600 billion in total economic losses; these figures are generally supported by independent groups like the UN. 10-11 million people is roughly equivalent to the combined populations of Greater London and Birmingham. In the continental European context, 11 million people is equivalent to the entire population of Paris, Madrid, Rome and Berlin combined. In the context of Vance’s home state, 11 million people is equivalent to 90 percent of the entire population of Ohio – forced from their homes, and practically all those people’s homes and businesses were destroyed without compensation. For the Trump administration negotiating team, patently, pretending 11 million displaced Ukrainians, and the homes and property they lost, are immaterial to the Russo-Ukrainian peace process, is a serious foreign policy misstep if not negligence. For Vance, a politician presenting himself to the public as a man of faith and Christian virtue, his failure to mention – ever – the plight of Ukrainians displaced from their homes by an unprovoked Russian invasion, at minimum undermines his credibility. Vance: “Viktor (Orbán) is the one who’s encouraged us to truly understand this, to understand from the perspective of both the Ukrainians and the Russians what is necessary for them to end the conflict.” In fact, since taking power in 2010 in Hungary Prime Minister Orbán and his government have placed themselves decisively in the Kremlin’s orbit. Among other evidence of Orbán/Hungarian bias towards Russia include: Kyiv Post is Ukraine’s first and oldest English news organization since 1995. Its international market reach of 97% outside of Ukraine makes it truly Ukraine’s Global – and most reliable – Voice.